Court heads inside mind of alleged South Park rapist-killer

Arguments begin Monday as to whether murder defendant is competent to face a jury

By LEVI PULKKINEN, SEATTLEPI.COM STAFF

Published 10:00 pm, Saturday, December 4, 2010

No one would say Isaiah Kalebu is a well man.

Accused in a torturous 2009 rape slaying that saw a South Park woman killed in front of her partner, Kalebu, 25, has history of mental illness and, from time to time, been found incompetent to face a jury.

The alleged killer's mind and its flaws or lack thereof will be front-and-center throughout December, as begining Monday attorneys for both side argue whether he can assist in his own defense or under stand the charges against him, chiefly aggravated first-degree murder.

Kalebu stands accused of breaking into a South Park home on a July 2009 night, then spending three hours sexually assaulting Teresa Butz and her girlfriend. Butz, 39, died protecting her partner.

According to charging documents, the surviving victim told police she and Butz were sleeping when, at about 1:30 a.m., they awoke to find Kalebu standing over their bed. He was naked, she told police, and armed with a butcher's knife.

During the 90 minutes that followed, police contend that Kalebu sexually assaulted each of the women several times. As he did so, police say, the physical attacks on the women intensified as he began cutting more aggressively on the necks of both women.

The surviving victim began to lose large amounts of blood. Concerned, Butz rushed Kalebu, then broke out a bedroom window with a nightstand, police claim.

Mortally injured, Butz dove through the window and her girlfriend ran from the room, police say in court documents. Officers contend Kalebu then collected his clothing and ran from the home.

"Her strength in battling her attacker saved the life of her partner," King County Prosecutor Dan Satterberg said previously.

Satterberg opted not to seek a death sentence against Kalebu -- he instead faces a mandatory life sentence if convicted -- in large part because of the man's mental illness.

"While we do not believe that the history of his mental illness rises to the level of a defense to the criminal charges, we do find that it meets one or more of the statutory criteria set forth in the law that constitutes a 'mitigating factor' for purposes of the capital punishment statute," Satterberg said announcing the decision in April. "Under state law, the presence of such a mitigating factor weighs against the imposition of the death penalty."

What role, if any, Kalebu's mental illness played in the South Park attack won't be settled until trial. Instead, King County Superior Court Judge Michael Hayden has been asked to determine whether Kalebu is mentally competent to stand trial.

Similar issues have delayed a handful of other King County murder prosecutions, including the aggravated murder trial of now-convicted killer Leemah Carneh. It took eight years -- and a great deal of debate about his competency, which his attorneys still dispute -- before Carneh pleaded guilty in November 2009 to killing an elderly couple and two teens for in an unprovoked attack.

Whether Kalebu's case will follow a similar tack remains to be seen.

Writing the court, Brandes noted her client's first "official" contact with mental health treatment providers came when he was admitted to Harborview Medical Center's psychiatric wing in March 2008.

According to court documents, police took Kalebu to Harborview after he refused to leave a Seattle financial office, claiming it was his property. He was arrested lounging in a conference room with his dog.

That day, a psychiatrist noted Kalebu was manic and delusional. He declared that he was "the King" and "the creator," Brandes said, and claimed to be the U.S. president.

Deemed to no longer be a threat to himself or others, Kalebu was released on March 29, 2008, Brandes told the court. Police arrested him the following day after he threatened his mother and was taken to Western State Hospital to be evaluated.

Housed at the state mental hospital, Kalebu was diagnosed with bipolar disorder and determined to be incompetent to stand trial on harassment charges filed after he accosted his mother.

In a report filed with the court as part of the 2008 harassment charge, Western State Hospital forensic psychologist Gregory Kramer initially noted that Kalebu "lacked the capacity to rationally understand the proceedings against him."

Kalebu, Kramer said in court documents, was acting extremely erratically in the months before his arrest. He was reported making "grandiose statements such as, 'I'm the king,' and proclaiming that he was the president of the United States but had resigned," and had attempted suicide following an earlier arrest.

During the forced hospitalization, Kalebu was prescribed antipsychotic drugs and ultimately regained his competency, Kramer wrote. Under medication, Kramer found, Kalebu was fit to stand trial.

Kramer said Kalebu continued to pose a threat to the public.

"It is my professional opinion that he is currently an above-average long-term risk for future danger to others and for committing future criminal acts," he said in the July 2008 report.

By August 2008, Kalebu's condition apparently had improved, as the same treatment providers deemed him competent to stand trial in the harassment case. He was released into the community, obtaining treatment at outpatient centers in King and Pierce counties.

Proceedings were ongoing when, on July 12, 2009, Kalebu is alleged to have slain Butz and nearly killed her partner. He was arrested days later, and has remained in custody since.

Writing the court, Brandes described her client as suffering extreme delusions while housed in King County Jail.

A psychiatrist hired by the defense noted Kalebu's thoughts were "disorganized, overtly delusional, tangential, with … paranoia and grandiosity." Kalebu, she said, went on a hunger strike in June after he came to believe jail staff was trying to poison him.

Kalebu was taken to Western State for a competency evaluation. Brandes, her incredulity clear, noted that two Western State Hospital psychiatrists determined not only that Kalebu was competent to stand trial but that he "did not suffer from any mental illness."

Having been returned to King County Jail, Kalebu declared in open court that he was "a political prisoner and the President of the United States," Brandes continued. That outburst prompted another round of evaluations during which Kalebu was found incompetent, then competent to stand trial.

Those evaluations, and the psychologists and psychiatrists who performed them, will be the subject of a series of hearings scheduled to take place throughout December.

It will then fall to King County Superior Court Judge Michael Hayden to rule on whether Kalebu is able to assist in his own defense and understand the charges against him. Any insanity defense, should one be offered, would come later if the case proceeds to trial.

Satterberg previously noted that Kalebu, per the surviving victim's description, was well aware of what he was doing during the prolonged, deadly attack.

"He seemed to be a very confident rapist," Satterberg said in July 2009. "He seemed to know what he was doing was wrong."

Satterberg also noted that millions of Americans live with some form of bi-polar disorder, and many are able to successfully manage their disease.

Kalebu is expected to appear in court Monday afternoon during an initial hearing on the matter; additional hearing will follow Tuesday and later in December. Hayden has previously said that Kalebu will be wheeled into the courtroom in a restraint chair if he refuse to come voluntarily.

In addition to the aggravated murder charge, Kalebu has been charged with first-degree attempted murder, first-degree rape and first-degree burglary. The only punishments for aggravated murder under state law are death and life in prison without parole.